Part 23 (1/2)
”Sure,” said Suzy, while the other kids leaned forward.
”What did he say about unity?”
”Ummm.” She looked uncertain.
A hand went up in back. Roger Gelbart. ”What did he say, Roj?”
”Use the minimum number of characters necessary to carry the action. In Sophocles, the conflict involves, at most, a handful. In a Shakespearean play, you need a scorecard.”
”What about time?”
Another hand. ”The action should take place over the shortest possible time span. Preferably the length of the play itself.”
”Good.” He'd begun to think how it would be to go back to cla.s.sical Athens, circa 420 B.C. And see Antigone Antigone performed under the stars. performed under the stars.
He could actually do do it. Although it was hard to imagine Shel consenting. Maybe if they were able to locate his father and bring him back, get rid of the urgency, maybe then he could be persuaded. it. Although it was hard to imagine Shel consenting. Maybe if they were able to locate his father and bring him back, get rid of the urgency, maybe then he could be persuaded.
SHEL laughed when he mentioned it indirectly, talking about how much fun it would be to take his students on a field trip to Athens in the fifth century B.C., to watch a performance, say, of laughed when he mentioned it indirectly, talking about how much fun it would be to take his students on a field trip to Athens in the fifth century B.C., to watch a performance, say, of Medea Medea.
”Your students understand Greek?” Shel asked.
”More or less.”
”Do they?” they?”
”Not very well, actually.”
”That's what I figured.” He grinned. ”A trip like that, though, would seriously shake up the academic community.”
”And, I suspect, a few parents.”
”Dave,” Shel said, ”I found something that might help us find my father.”
”What's that?”
”I did a search of his computer. He's like you, always had a taste for the cla.s.sical age. When we used to travel in Greece and Syria, I don't remember how many times he'd show me a site where there was nothing but rubble and explain how it had been a temple to Juno or somebody. It upset him that the Christians, when they took over the empire, destroyed so much of its architecture. And its literature.”
”So where are you going with this?”
”He'd been collecting notes for a long time on Aristarchus.”
”Who is . . . ?”
”He was the head librarian at Alexandria in its heyday.”
”Your father was-is-a physicist.”
”My dad is a Renaissance guy.”
”Okay. That's interesting. Aristarchus was at one time the keeper of the world's knowledge. So, what-”
”There's a better than fair chance that when my father found himself with a time-travel capability, Aristarchus is the guy he'd have gone to have lunch with. Even more than Galileo.”
”How long was he there? At the Library?”
”About six years. From 153 B.C. to about 147. Anyhow, I'm going to go back and ask. I'm going to try to learn a little Greek. So it'll be a while.” He hesitated. ”Will you come?”
”Sure, I wouldn't miss it. But I have a condition.”
”Okay.”
”Most of the work by the Greek playwrights has been lost. Do you know, for example, how many of Sophocles' plays survived?”
Shel had no idea.
”Seven.”
”That doesn't sound bad.”
”Out of more than a hundred.”
”Oh.” Shel sat back. ”Well, why don't we plan on spending an afternoon at the Library and take some pictures?”
”It would be criminal not to.”
”Okay. Then it's settled.”
”When do we leave?”
”Let's give it a couple of weeks. I need time for my crash course.”
”We might have a problem, though.”
”What's that?”
”You don't want to tell anybody about the converters.”
”Yeah. I've thought about that. If we can recover some of this stuff, how do we explain where we got it?”
”Bingo.”